Developer Chat – Jérémy Wuthrer on ‘Don’t Kill Her’

Don’t Kill Her is an upcoming platformer from developer Jérémy Wuthrer. Promising to be more than just another platformer, there is a lot of mystery surrounding Wuthrer’s plans for the game. Upon the game’s completion, Don’t Kill Her will be totally free on http://www.wuthrer.net/dontkillher for anyone wishing to check the game out.

I was able to chat with Wuthrer for a bit, about what he has in store for players within Don’t Kill Her.

IGM: I know the site says “planned 2013 release”, are you still planning on having it out by the year’s end?

Wuthrer: Yeah, I’ve kind of dropped off a lot of professional stuff to spend most of my time on it. So, the end of this year, or at least, very beginning of next year seems like a reasonable release date.

IGM: The visuals, how did you go about creating the hand-drawn look?

Wuthrer: Let’s say it’s a very long and (sometimes) painful process, but it’s really worth it, and it has to be so. This very special look isn’t about trying to make the game look fancy. It’s related to the core of the game, about the experience I’m trying to build. It may sounds weird, but this is normal. The deeper you go into the game, the more you understand. Don’t Kill Her has a lot to say, and it won’t be “just a game”. Graphics are just a part of this, just something that will help you to understand what’s really going on. I won’t say more, because, you know, it’s kind of the point of the game.

IGM: Why the decision to release it for free?

Wuthrer: First, Don’t Kill Her is designed to be a very short experience. Something like less an hour. Second, I’m not a programmer. I’m awful at coding, and I guess it will be really hard for me to optimize the game and make it totally free of bugs. I’m really doing my best there, and it even seems like things are going well, (really well in fact), but I didn’t feel enough self-confident to prevent all of [the bugs]. That’s why I didn’t want to ask monney for it.

But [for the most part], Don’t Kill Her is a very special game. I’m putting a lot of me into it, and I want everyone to have the opportunity to play it. The more people will play it, the more I’ll be happy. I think, for me, that’s the most important part.

Plus, if people like the game…I will dedicate myself to creating games. For me, it’s more like a test to know if I’m doing it right and if my visions and my creations are, you know, enjoyable. But honestly, I can’t wait to finish it, because I really believe it will be at least interesting.